KNOWLEDGE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS IN THE QUR’AN- AN INSIGHT INTO THE STAGNANT ISLAMIC DISCIPLINES

What raises man far above other creations, known and unknown is his ability to access to immensely immeasurable knowledge of the seen and the unseen worlds. Incredibly, the knowledge with all its discovered dimensions keeps day by day increasing due to the intellectual aptitude and caliber of man. The Qur‟an, the Last and the Final Revelation from Allah, the most sublime and the ultimate source of knowledge inspires mankind to learn and develop knowledge in its truest sense, which surely leads to the blissful life. The Qur‟an uses four main terms denoting knowledge, with each being essentially different from the other as to its meaning, direction, and purpose: (1) al-‘ilm, (2) al-ma’rifah, (3) al-hikmah, and (4) al-dirayah. The Qur‟an being the source of wisdom (perfection of knowledge) avers in no uncertain terms that knowledge needs to be developed systemically and in an organized manner/methodology. For that matter, the Qur‟an attracts attention of man to his/her three faculties marvelously ingrained in him/her, namely sam‘ (hearing), basar(seeing), and fu’ad (thinking). These three faculties constitute intellectual capacity of human being. When deliberated over the verses where these three constituents of human intellect are mentioned in the Qur‟an, one may realize that these terms seek to indicate to the comprehensive process of knowledge development. This research is aimed at discussing the various stages of development of knowledge in the light of the relevant verses of the Qur‟an. The methodology applied in the study is critical analysis combined with deductive analogy. The conclusion reached at therein is that the continuous human development entails continuous human endeavor to develop knowledge